The Healing Power of Chant

An acclaimed yoga teacher and leader of kirtan, or call-and-response devotional chanting, Snatam Kaur sings with the intent of uplifting, healing, and transforming her listeners. A longtime social activist, the California-born vocalist often performs in prisons, hospices, and schools in low-income communities.Kaur’s music “is just pure spirit,” says fan Oprah Winfrey. “There’s no part of it that doesn’t feel like it comes from the space where God abides, where source energy abides. If more of the world listened to her music, we would have a more peaceful space here on Earth.”S&H spoke with Kaur about her work.Your album Divine Birth is designed to support new mothers during and after pregnancy. How does that work?My spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, said the most impactful time of teaching from the mother to her child is when the child is in her womb, because the child is learning based on vibration directly from the mother. After the child is born, then the mother has a few things left to teach the child, but most of it is already done.These mantras give the mother a vehicle to transfe …